ā€œI love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.ā€ ā€“ Douglas Adams

GTD Journey: Moving from Nirvana to Microsoft To Do

After several false starts the company I work for is finally migrating to Microsoft šŸ„³. No more sync issues between Google Calendar and Outlook for me (yay!).

I remember taking a quick look at Microsoft To Do last year and liked its simplicity, but because I only had one account I thought it was cumbersome to deal with personal and work stuff all together in one app. One of the reasons I liked Nirvana was the global area filter, so I could switch from personal to work mode, and keep a minimal number of context tags that were shared between personal/work .

Now I have 2 Microsoft accounts so things can be organized separatedly. I can switch from one to the other using the Microsoft To Do desktop app, both on my personal and work computers. I also have 2 mobile phones, one linked to my personal account and the other linked to my work account.

The 2 setups are similar, Iā€™ll get into more detail about my personal one.

Setting it up

First, I read the Official GTD Guide for Microsoft To Do to figure out the best way to set up projects and next actions. As I wrote before I am letting go of the need to have in-built links betweens next actions and projects, so my personal setup looks like this:

Groups of Lists:

Other Lists:

Using hashtags to identify Projects

In MS To Do we can use hashtags as a way to search similar items. So for example, in my projects list I have a keyword to identify that project and so I can use that same hashtag on my next actions. Clicking on a hashtag will show all related items with it.

It is a loose way of linking projects to next actions and if have a good next action description, I wouldnā€™t even need the hashtag, because I could just search ā€œcar insuranceā€ and find what Iā€™m looking for. But I like having the hashtags, specially for bigger projects.

Sharing Lists

I shared some lists between my personal and work accounts so that if I update one the chages will be reflected in both accounts:

Day to Day Use

There are 2 features in MS To Do that Iā€™m using daily: My Day and Flagged emails.

My Day

In the mornings I have a recurring daily task to ā€œnudgeā€ me to start my day choosing what to focus on. Iā€™ve tried having it on my calendar as a recurring event but over time it gets stale. Itā€™s a quirk I have, I am more likely to act on something if I am able to ā€œcheck-offā€ things as done.

So Iā€™ll add whatever I decide to work on into the built-in My Day list in MS To Do. The interesting thing about this list is that it resets everyday, so it becomes a daily exercise for me to reflect and plan what I want to focus on.

Flagged emails

Another feature Iā€™m enjoying is sending actionable email items to MS To Do from my email inbox. Itā€™s an option that can be turned on/off.

If turned on, the messages in Outlook that are flagged will show up on the ā€œFlagged emailā€ smart list on MS To Do. From there, Iā€™ll process it and assign a next action context. In Outlook I will archive the email, since there will be a link in MS To Do to open the original email. If it's an email I want to have quick reference to, I move it to my @Action Support folder in Outlook.

It seems that sending actionable emails to MS To Do makes me spend less time in my email Inbox. I'm finding it better to have ā€œactionablesā€ all in one place. I used to have an ā€œActionā€ folder in my email and sometimes things got forgotten in there.

So farā€¦

ā€¦ Iā€™ve been enjoying the experience! I never realized how important visuals are to me. I absolutely love the MS To Do interface and the way I can customize it with emojis and colors/backgrounds. Itā€™s one of those things that make me more engaged with my lists.

MS To Do is simple to use, itā€™s beautiful, it integrates with my calendars and work environment, so it seems like a perfect fit for me now.

Update June 2023

Iā€™ve written an update to this setup, check it out here.

#Productivity #apps #MSTodo #GTD

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By Noisy Deadlines
Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.